WWALS Watershed Coalition advocates for conservation and stewardship of the Withlacoochee, Willacoochee, Alapaha, Little, and Suwannee River watersheds in south Georgia and north Florida through education, awareness, environmental monitoring, and citizen activities.

Tag Archives: Jeffrey Hill

Valdosta Utilities naturally painted as rosy a picture as possible,
and newspapers have limited space, so here is the rest of the story
about Valdosta wastewater at the Suwannee River Water Management District
board meeting last Tuesday.
SRWMD Chair Virginia H. Johns understands the stigma,
and Board Member Virginia Sanchez spelled it out:

“You don’t want to swim in a little sewage versus a lot of sewage either. Both of them are bad. A spill is bad.”

Let’s not forget
Merrillee Malwitz-Jipson,
who pointed out something Valdosta doesn’t want to hear:
it’s the stigma of sewage spills that is the big problem they are causing.
For sure we need to find out what the specific health and other effects are
of Valdosta sewage and other contamination on river water and nearby wells.
But the stigma of Valdosta sewage goes far beyond that.

The most direct interaction by the Suwannee River Water Management District (SRWMD) Board that I’ve ever seen,
yesterday, when Valdosta Utilities Director Darryl Muse
came to explain what Valdosta has done and is doing to stop its sewage spills.
Neither the board nor the audience seemed satisfied.

Stay tuned for another post about some of what was said.
Meanwhile, below are links to each WWALS video of each speaker or agenda item,
with a few notes.
These WWALS videos are under a Creative Commons Attribution license, which means you can use them,
provide you cite the source, which is WWALS.
There are a few more pictures on the WWALS website.
See also
the agenda.
For background and data, see: Continue reading →